The fragrant air hit Yama so suddenly. Months of being in space, and on two different planets had removed the sensation of earth"s soft wind from his brain. It was wonderful, and terrible. It brought happiness, and sadness. It was warm and cold. It was comforting and distant. He didn"t know what to make of it.

When the flying car reached the city gate, he noticed such incredible detail of the walls. The pattern was that of a broken chain, snapped in several places. In the parts that the chain remained connected, there was no extra detail around the chain, but where the chain was broken, there were birds engraved in the metal, each feather clearly shown.

But inside the city was where the the true beauty was. A parade was going on, similar to high school pep rallies, but different -- in a good way. The energy was high, and so was the joy. Everyone was having a good time, listening to the two men chanting on top of a moving stand surrounded by other people.

"What is this about?" Imabench inquired to the driver.

"That is Bsh1 and YYW, celebrating Airmax" birthday. The people around them include Ragnar, Bluesteel, Whiteflame, Bladerunner, Ore_Ele and Mikal. They are government officials, all of "em serve our leader and protector, Airmax."

"But... RM is the leader..." Yama pointed out, curious to why a government leader that hated Airmax more than anyone would have a celebration for his enemy"s birthday.

The driver flew the car over the parade and into a bay door on a tall building.

"Here is where you will be staying. Your room is 1282. There is clothing, two beds, a mini-bar, tv"s and a deluxe bathroom. I will be here in five hours to take you to your appointment with Airmax." The driver smiled, then got back in his car and flew away, leaving Imabench and Yama in the orange lit parking lot.

The room that they were going to live in was gorgeous. Both of them had their own bedroom"s, each personalized. Yama"s had a fridge full of wine and Dr. Pepper, with plenty of anime DVD"s, while Imabench had all the Frozen merchandise a person could ever ask for. There was also a balcony, where you could still see the parade.

"Only a week ago, we still thought earth was gone, but now? Now it"s being served to us on a silver plate. " Yama gazed outside, his cold, blue eyes fixed on the parade.

"You"re not actually considering this offer, are you?" Imabench responded, taking a Dr.Pepper from Yama"s fridge. " I mean, did you hear how convinced that guy was that Max was in control of this place. For goodness sake"s, he"s a maniac!"

"So are we. You heard Jack, we were selected because out of all the survivors, we are the only ones that can do what is necessary to live. I"m not saying that I will accept, there is obviously more than we know, but to not consider the offer, to not have the possibility of an ending, to not survive, would seem wrong. So yes, I am considering his offer, and you should as well." Yama responded, not taking his eyes off the parade.

"I... Guess you have a point." Imabench retreated to his bed, opening his can of Dr. Pepper and turning on his TV.

"I am not religious. I am a genius. I have the Universe in my hands."
-Aerogant

The driver returned, just as enthusiastic as before, with a smile and a cheer, he flew the yellow car into a room of the tallest part of the city. The building was slightly lit by red light, with guards in gold armor holding spears on every wall, finally, the three entered through a grey door, where there was a big, circular table, with Airmax sitting on chair, with two guards by his side.

The guard to the left of Airmax walked up to the driver and impaled him with his spear, then activating the electricity function on the spear, cooking all of his internal organs. The drivers blue eyes flashed with pain, and his strawberry blond hair burned as the corpse fell on the floor.

"That... That... You"re not the Airmax I know, are you?" Imabench snarled, looking deep at Airmax, who was laughing hard. "You monster. He shouldn"t have died! I can"t believe I fo-"

"Oh, sorry for the charade. Here, maybe this will answer a few questions." Airmax pressed a button on his neck, causing Airmax"s red hair to turn brown, his green eyes became grey, his skin paler and and his body thinner. Inside the purple robes was not Airmax, but rather Rational Madman. "Don"t you just love today"s technology? I sure do. Please, take a seat." Airmax signaled at the other guard. "You, get Karma over there a prosthetic. He"s going to need it for dinner."

A wave of anger and hatred flooded Yama, but he took a seat at the table anyways. At the age of fourteen, RM ruined his life, capturing him, and turning him into a weapon. He was controlled using nanobots, and forced to kill innocents, all for criminal gain. But somewhere, the nanobots went wrong. They were a shadow of what they are today, and did not work properly. They drove Yama insane, and he was able to escape, but he began to wish he didn"t.

His parents disappeared, all of his friends had seemingly forgotten him. RM didn"t hurt him, he killed the person that was Yama, and left a sad, broken reflection of him. That"s why he joined Debate.org, a community where he could start new, where he could actually have an outlet. But RM took that as well...

"I hope you like steak, we are having the finest cut in all the world, with mashed potatoes fit for only the gods, made with Yukon potatoes. How do you want your steak?" RM asked, as if he was an old friend.

"Very good. Now while we are waiting for dinner, we have some business to discuss." RM folded his hands together and smiled sinisterly. "As General Jack already explained, I want you two as my right-hands. You two follow only one law, survival of the fittest. So do I. I understand why you do what you do, it"s almost always not personal, you are the center of your universe, and you don"t want any black hole to suck it up." RM grabbed a piece of bread, and began to put butter on it.

It"s only every now and then that you hate someone enough to just want to squash "em and be done with it. For example, Yama, you hate the Rationalist, yet you tried to kill all the defenders even though you only hated one (Episode 7- Darth).Bench, you attacked so many people during the fighting challenge, yet you only enjoyed killing my clone (Episode 2 - Darth).

A guard came out of a door in the corner, holding a basket with garlic bread in it, a container of butter, a knife and three plates.

"We fight to live OUR lives, not others. I"m not saying that others are less important, no. To them, they SHOULD be bae, but it"s all perspective. Just imagine what you two could do with another of your kind. The three of us, we could take the entire world over! All ours, but you have to agree to submit..."

Imabench took a minute to take everything in, and then looked up, skeptical. " You said "could", what are you offering in general?"

"An out. No more running, fighting and dying. I"m offering you the end of the game. The ultimate victory, survival. Doesn't matter if that ending is a simple life of working, raising a family and dying at 90, or if it"s becoming president of DDO city. The specifics are your call, I will just make it."

Both men thought deeply, but then they stood up. "Sorry, but any ending involving you sounds awful." Yama mocked, and prepared to leave with Imabench right behind him.

"Why? Why should we have to listen to anything you say, you animal." Imabench growled. The guards clenched their spears tightly, ready to respond.

"Sigh... I thought you two would have realized that you two wouldn"t be leaving this room without joining me. Oh well, looks like I get to connect all the dots. If you refuse my highly generous offer, well, you will still have to join me."

The scar on Yama"s forearm stung, and he could tell that bench was having the same sensation. Both of them had been controlled by RM using nanobots, and they would not have it again... Never again.

"I am not religious. I am a genius. I have the Universe in my hands."
-Aerogant

"Oh! Not like that, no. I would feel bad if I did that. So uncivilized, and I would have to replace the nanobots every thirteen hours or so. No, Lieutenant! Bring in the samples, I hoped I wouldn"t have to use these to convince you using this, but, you had to play hardball." RM boomed.

Thett strode in, holding two capsules that had liquid inside of them, she was in a silver armor, and her black hair was neatly combed. She saw Yama, but then put her head down and gave RM the capsules.

"What are those?" Imabench inquired.

"Did you really think I would have you as prisoners without taking a DNA sample? Shoulda seen this coming from a mile away."

"Yes, you are right. They are a big deal. Using your DNA I can clone you, and perfect you. I can make an obedient Imabench, and a sane YamaVonKarma, but I won"t IF you choose to join me? EIther way, you join me."

Using our DNA... he could create... A true monster.

"So, what is your choice? If you refuse, you can go back to prison."

"NO!" Yama flipped the table over. He jumped, and grabbed the butter knife, using it to cut RM"s face.

"Very well then, your choice." The cut on his face leaked blue blood. He didn"t seem hurt, but rather surprised.

"You really think I would join a lesser being like you? DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID TO ME?" Yama screamed, the two guards tried to stab him with their spears, but Yama got out of the way.

"Bench? How about you? Will you join me?" RM stood up.

"...Never."

"Fine. Capture and imprison them. Do not kill them. That shall be my honor." RM commanded, as he exited the room."

The guards cornered the two, one used the back end of the spear as a club and hit Yama with it, The other stabbed Imabench in his kneecap.

"GYAAAAAH!" Imabench screamed in pain, blood leaking out of his knee at a fast rate. He collapsed on the floor, holding the leg to his knee tightly.

"Come on. COME ON! FIGHT ME!" Yama challenged the guards.

"With pleasure."

Yama ripped a spear from the other guard"s hands. He tried to slash at the guard"s chest but the blade of the spear snapped right off the handle. The guard who had taken Imabench down hit Yama in the back of the head, knocking him out.

"This is Guard IG-002, we need a prison transport for Imabench and YamaVonKarma. They are wounded and Imabench may lose his left leg below the knee. So bring medical supplies as well." The guard said in his microphone.

This was it.

Imabench and Yama went in thinking that Airmax would be there to give them the victory in the game that is survival, but in reality they may have just lost.

TO BE CONTINUED"

=====================================================================

*Bonus*

One day later...

It was a rainy day in Tulsa. The clouds were gray like the early movies. The temperature was just over 9 degrees (Celsius).

Inside of the city was a turquoise building. There was a large antenna on top and no windows.

A police officer stood in front of the front door, waiting for possible intruders. Two men in black coats and sunglasses walked up and opened the door.

"Sorry, you can't go in... Oh." The police officer saw the badge on their coats. "Um... Step right inside... Sir."

The two men walked in, where there was a man in a white labcoat, doing calculations on a whiteboard.

"We have your package." One of the men said . "Emperor Madman trusts that you will be wise with it."

"Ah! The package! Excellent." The man in the labcoat put out his hand, and the man gave him a USB stick. "Thank you gentlemen, now please leave me."

"Of course."

=====================================================================

Thanks for reading!

DarthKirones.

"I am not religious. I am a genius. I have the Universe in my hands."
-Aerogant

I really liked this episode. The writing is a lot more descriptive, rich and enjoyable than before. I could imagine every single scene now. Vivid and descriptive. This episode was excellent.

It was tense. Exciting. Shocking. And just fun. I'm also slightly amused that the guard with the spear casually skewered Ima's leg as if it was necessary. I also am sympathetic with Ima. And Yama is really stubborn. And lucky too. He just got hit in the back. I wonder why Ima had to get the harsh treatment lol.

The only thing I can say about improvement would probably be the little brackets with the references to the episodes. Those were minor distractions for me. Perhaps use a numbered brackets system like you do when sourcing in debates. And then make a list at the bottom with all the references.

At 3/29/2015 4:47:49 AM, Adam_Godzilla wrote:Whoah.... That was o.O Intriguing.

I really liked this episode. The writing is a lot more descriptive, rich and enjoyable than before. I could imagine every single scene now. Vivid and descriptive. This episode was excellent.

It was tense. Exciting. Shocking. And just fun. I'm also slightly amused that the guard with the spear casually skewered Ima's leg as if it was necessary. I also am sympathetic with Ima. And Yama is really stubborn. And lucky too. He just got hit in the back. I wonder why Ima had to get the harsh treatment lol.

The only thing I can say about improvement would probably be the little brackets with the references to the episodes. Those were minor distractions for me. Perhaps use a numbered brackets system like you do when sourcing in debates. And then make a list at the bottom with all the references.

Other than that, great chapter! And I look forward to more of these.

Thanks!

"I am not religious. I am a genius. I have the Universe in my hands."
-Aerogant